Monday, September 28, 2009

Those this photo makes it hard to tell, this is the steepest part of the ride. It almost looks as if this is a nice little incline. I assure you this part of the trail (Puke Hill) is appropriately named. I only made it about half way up before I had to resort to pushing the bike.

The major bummer of the ride was that I went over a log in the trail, landed on my front tire and compressed my rim. The event bent the rim beyond use and bucked me onto some rocks for a nice bit of damage to my hip and shoulder, not to mention tearing my spiffy riding jersey.

This is where we rode the past weekend. It is named the Wasatch Crest because it is the spine that connects a bunch of ski resorts in Utah. From the trail we could see Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley, Brighton, and Solitude.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

This is a close-up of my work desk. The lighter wood is lace wood and the darker is mahogany. Nothing warms a space more than wood. This piece was made by Millcreek Furniture who is currently making many pieces for the new St. Regis five-star hotel in Deer Valley.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Although I am sick (like Mike said in the last post) I will power through and still post. I haven't been posting in the last week because I haven't taken many pictures with a digital camera. I did take these a few days ago though. The quality isn't as nice as it was in i-photo though, blogger might have adjusted the beauty.

Avery is down-and-out with the flu so I'm going to add another post while he mends. The photo is of my Sigg water bottle. I have tried every water bottle around. Nearly all of the metal bottles have a "tin" aftertaste. Sigg is a Swiss company that has been making water bottles for more than 100 years. I have about six of these gems. They keep water cool and tasting great.

Recycling your PET plastic water bottles is good… but using a reusable water bottle is much better for the environment.

"More than 90 percent of the environmental impacts from a disposable plastic bottle happen before the consumer opens it," said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council. "Oil for plastic, oil for shipping, oil for refrigeration and, in a small % of bottles, oil for recycling–sadly most PET bottles go to landfills." As a rule of thumb, scientists say that you can fill a PET bottle ¼ of the way with oil to symbolize how much energy goes into every bottle.

Worldwide, over 60 billion tons of plastic waste is produced every year. Plastic is particularly damaging because it is not biodegradable and plastic particles eventually become part of the food chain--as they have for example in our oceans. In some parts of the sea, there is five times more plastic than plankton. Neil Seldman, a waste recycling expert, has labeled our plastic problem as "potentially more dangerous than global warming."

But we can change this!

Using a SIGG reusable bottle is a smart and simple way to reduce unnecessary waste and to take better care of our planet.

In 2008, Newsweek published a report measuring the greenest countries in the world – and Switzerland ranked #1. At SIGG, we manufacture to the highest Swiss standards and are constantly on the lookout for ways to further reduce our carbon footprint.

SIGG is also a proud member of 1% For The Planet, donating 1% of our worldwide sales to protection of the environment. At SIGG, we walk the walk.

Monday, September 21, 2009

One of the very best things about living in the mountains--especially in the fall--is witnessing all the cool cloud formations. Captured this coming out of a restaurant Friday night. The iPhone doesn't do the best job of showing it, but the sky was a deep, dark royal blue to the west. To the east we had light turquoise skies and a azure continuum of blue shades in between. It was the kind of scene that makes you thankful for living in a beautiful place.

Friday, September 18, 2009

So as I mentioned in the previous post, I'm experimenting with bare foot running, having recently read the best seller "Born to Run." I did the first mile bare foot on the treadmill. Feet felt great minus the blister I got on the big toe of my right foot.

Next, I tried a pair of Vibram FiveFinger KSO like those above. It was a little odd getting into the "shoe" (little piggies didn't want to cooperate), but I got it done. Ran last night at at park on a mixture of grass and paved trail. Other than a little strain on my calves this morning, my legs feel great. One problem: there is a barely noticeable seam where the Vibram sole connects to the upper fabric. I got a small (but very painful) blister on the instep of my left foot. As I've googled around the web to read of others' experience with the shoe, I've found its fairly typical to have blisters as your feet try to get acclimated to the wear and tear of wearing less.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I've been reading the most fascinating book on running: Born to Run. It's about a middle-aged guy who kept getting injured from running. He sought the best sports medicine and experts in the country. They all told him that man just wasn't made to run. He didn't like the answer and spent years trying to refute that logic. His search took him too Mexico's Copper Canyons and to the Tarahumara Indian trip whose members often run hundreds of miles at a time. Their secret: anti-Nike shoes. They ran virtually barefoot. The books author sites ample scientific research supporting the idea that human race is meant to run, meant to run long distances, and mean to run as close to barefoot as possible. Best book I've read in five years...and really inspiring news for old dudes who want to run.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Got to be a witness to the LA fires at a recent soccer tournament away. A bit hard to see from a lack of zoom on the iPhone, but you can get an idea by looking in the distance. This was a small faction of the fires around the huge city. It was surreal having blue skies where we were playing and being ringed-in by plums of smoke in the distance.